PURPOSE

The church in Asia is growing and maturing, and so must her leaders. Leaders who received formal ministry training in the past are leading a growing and developing movement for Christ today. The needs and issues of their social, culture and religious context, and the skills required to address these concerns are changing. These leaders need fresh input, wise mentors, and personalized guidance to reflect on what they have learned from years of experience in order to maximize their gifts/abilities for God’s kingdom. They also need to select, train, develop, and mentor emerging leaders to facilitate movements in their context in order to reach more people for Christ.

The purpose of this program is thus three-fold:

  • First, we seek to further develop the capacity of established ministry leaders for godly influence and ministry impact, helping them to focus their ministries so they will finish well. The program is designed to rekindle participants’ spiritual passion, strengthen their biblical/theological foundations, upgrade their leadership skills, expand their networking/resourcing capacity, and clarify their ministry focus.
  • Second, we want to promote a Christ-centered worldview to better address contextual issues of the majority people’s culture and religion around them, and thus respond to their questions and issues.
  • Third, we desire to equip established leaders in intentionally training the next generation of emerging Asian Christian leaders and thus contribute to the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENT

The IGSL D.Min. is aimed at leaders of church and parachurch organizations who:

  • Have completed a master’s degree with a GPA of at least “B+” and have an adequate graduate-level academic background in biblical, theological, and ministerial studies to pursue doctoral work.
  • Have been in active Christian leadership for at least 7 years after completing their master’s degree.
  • Are in leadership of church planting work, a multi-staff church (or cluster of churches), a parachurch ministry, a regional/national ministry, or a denominational ministry.
  • Meet other appropriate character, ministry, and academic standards, including English proficiency.

CURRICULUM

The program provides a balance of input related to character, skills and knowledge. Each course combines all three but emphasizes one. Participants are also able to choose electives reflecting a similar balance.

CORE COURSES
Core courses are focused around knowledge, values, and skills that seek to sharpen and guide leaders toward effective ministry:

  1. LS 841 Personal Leadership Assessment
  2. LS 842 Theology and Spirituality of Leadership
  3. LS 823 Leading for Spiritual Transformation
  4. Choose one:
  • LS 844 Transforming Movements: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Applications
  • LS 832 Curriculum Design for Developing Leaders
  • LS 812 Training Models for Leadership Multiplication

ELECTIVE COURSES
  • LS 814 Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark and the Asian Context
  • LS 816 Discipleship and the Gospel of John – Independent Study
  • LS 818 Asian Christian Ethics
  • LS 820 Asian Cities: Centers of Ministry for the 21st Century
  • LS 845 Leadership Coaching
  • LS 831 Core Coaching Skills
  • LS 890 Mentored Tutorial

RESEARCH COURSES
  • LS 850 Research Methods for Leadership Studies (3c)
  • LS 851 Independent Study & Proposal (3c)
  • LS 855 Dissertation/Research Project (3c)

DISTRIBUTION OF CREDITS

The distribution of credit hours for the completion of the degree is as follows:

30 Semester Credits:
Core Courses 4 courses (3 credits each) = 12 credits
Elective Courses 3 courses (3 credits each) = 9 credits
Dissertation 1 course Research Methods (LS 850) = 3 credits
1 Independent Study & Proposal = 3 credits
1 course Dissertation-Project (LS 855) = 3 credits
TOTAL CREDITS = 30

FORMAT

The program can be finished in approximately five to eight years on a part time study basis. Participants are not required to take courses in a particular order. It is recommended, however, that the “Personal Leadership Assessment” course and “Research Methods for Leadership Studies” courses be taken early in the program. A participant may miss a course offered without penalty, although the program must be completed in eight (8) years. Courses involve assignments both before and after the intensive course week. This involves about 1,200 pages of reading and practical writing and/or field assignments (of about 40-50 pages). A typical schedule is as follows, though the specific number of courses offered and their dates each year vary:

one course (whole day for one week or half-day for two weeks)

  • Summer or School year – some of IGSL’s ongoing semester long or summer modular courses may be applicable to the D.Min. program, with special added assignments. (Other D.Min. courses may be scheduled to fit the availability of distinguished visiting professors)
  • Mentored Tutorials – a limited number of personalized studies can be arranged subject to the availability of suitable mentors.
  • Ministry Enhancement Trainings – Students may earn independent study credit for work done through ministry enhancement programs with approval from the Doctor of Ministry Studies Director. A student may design a course of study around organizational seminars which may be used as preparation for an applied research project or to fulfill elective course requirements. (Student will be responsible for the costs of the ministry enhancement TRAINING in addition to tuition for the course). Only three units may be acquired using this option.
  • Transfer Credits – A limited number of qualified units may be transferred fromother programs (to be determined by the DMin committee).

BASIC PROGRAM FEES AND EXPENSES

Before an applicant is accepted into the program, the applicant must demonstrate full
sponsorship covering expected expenses. There are no IGSL scholarships offered for D.Min.
courses. Tuition and books are the major expense of the program.

Php 1,250 non-refundable (about US$ 25) (US$ 50 for applicants from developed countries)

Php 10,938.00/ US$185 for enrollees coming from developing and developed countries except for US, Korea, and Singapore. It includes the following:

Tuition and other Fees Developing and Developed Countries (in Philippine Pesos) Developing and
Developed Countries
(in USD)
Tuition Fee Php 3,696.00 US$ 62
General Fee Php 1,800.00 US$ 30
Academic Resources Fee Php 1,152.00 US$ 20
Registration Fee Php 590.00 US$ 10
Library Fee and Information
Services (EBSCO included)
Php 1,750.00 US$ 30
Digital Subscription & Services Php 1,950.00 US$ 33
Total Php 10,938.00 US$ 185

Php 3,000-4,000 (Peso equivalent of approximately US$ 60-70) per course
(Kindle or E-Book format are recommended)

A library fee is included in the student costs and access to the on-line journals through EBSCO is available for all registered students. The access code will be given the first week of courses. Note however that many of the journals that EBSCO holds will not be sufficient. It will be in the participant’s interest to identify a person or place where they are able to access a wider and fuller range of journals and articles. Sometimes this can be done by connecting with a faculty member from another institution who has access to a greater library source. These friends cannot do research for you, but if you identify a journal or article that you would like to read, many times they can access it and make a soft copy for you. There is a growing e-library of resources including articles, manuals, and material from many of our courses and well beyond. These may be accessed on the team Google drive but may not be distributed or copied. Many of them are not formally published but do represent intellectual property, so should be treated that way. They are for personal study. There may be many helpful models and examples as well as articles.

Course extension, program continuation, graduation, dissertation, etc.

The DMin program provides limited scholarships for enrollees that need financial assistance. The eligibility of the scholarship application will be assessed by the DMin program director after acceptance to the program. Interested applicant/s of the DMin scholarship should accomplish the required DMin scholarship Application Form (pages 23-24) and submit immediately to mgo@igsl.asia, cc rang@igsl.asia and leadershipprogram@igsl.asia. The result of the scholarship application will be notified via email.